Review of What Just Happened (2008) by Ryan E — 24 Dec 2009

Haven't seen much of ol' DeNiro in a while, so let's catch up with "What Just Happened.".

Ben is a Hollywood producer. He juggles directors, actors, writers, and even studio heads on a daily basis. Life is tough, especially while trying to hold on to what's left of his normal life.

Well... where to start? DeNiro was... okay. Not bad, but there wasn't very much character to Ben. Just a guy trying to get by. The movie basically takes place from the point of view of the ball in a pinball machine. The various problems Ben has to deal with are somewhat interesting and even slightly tense at times. But that's not the problem. The problem is that this is meant to be a comedy. And a satirical comedy at that. Although there is a slight amount of satire, it's just not funny. You may root for the guy, simply because he's in such a bad way, and breath a sigh of relief when things turn, but it's not funny. It's not serious, it's just not funny. I laughed once at Bruce Willis, and he was probably the best part of the movie for me. But when an actor playing himself that takes up maybe 5-10 minutes of the movie is the best part... I think we all know where this is going. It's an interesting look into the life of a Hollywood producer with a few nice background performances. But there is very little story, poor pacing, and an uninteresting main character with no visible development. In fact there is so little difference between the end of this movie and the beginning, you may actually be thinking "What just happened?" This is a movie strictly for fans of movies about movies. Heck, I am one of those and I didn't even like it that much. To use a quote: "It's not a movie." And by that I mean this would have been better as a book. Sorry Robert. Looks like your luck is running out. I give "What Just Happened" 4 dead dogs out of 10.